As many of our veteran members know, we have traditionally resisted suggestions to set up additional boards on the grounds that they divert attention from the main rooms: the Classical Music Chatterbox and the Pub, which syphon off conversations that we would prefer to remain in the main/common areas. There are pros and cons to that argument, of course, and we've heard them all. We have argued them all with each other over the years. Once we set up the Films & Movies board, we really had scant ground on which to continue resisting other boards; the Films & Movies board seems to be holding its own and grows. Therefore, we have set up, on a trial basis, the Book Review board. We encourage you to get involved with this board to help us get it off the ground, so please post often! Heaven knows, the books are out there. They can be old books, new books, whatever. Have fun!

stenka razin wrote:Hiya, this is a great idea, but, I do not think this section is 'connected'. Please check that this new section's main board 'lights up' when viewed for new posts. It does not for me.

Eh? What are you talking about? BTW thanks for being the first to go, Mel. HT to ya!

"This Island Earth" first appeared as a magazine serialization and is now available in book form. If you are familiar with the spectacular (in the 1950s understanding of the term) older technicolor movie version you'll feel right at home until the final third of the book.
At that point the movie digressed into hollywood tomfoolery. The book remains on-task and finishes up with a bit of a story twist that is very enjoyable.

The usual story items appear, but seem freshly done (they were so at the time): pilotless aircraft, flying saucers, mysterious scientific discoveries, humanoid aliens seeking help to win a desperate war, treachery and mind control...

stenka razin wrote:Hiya, this is a great idea, but, I do not think this section is 'connected'. Please check that this new section's main board 'lights up' when viewed for new posts. It does not for me.

Eh? What are you talking about? BTW thanks for being the first to go, Mel. HT to ya!

Your moderators expected as much, but every now and then we think "well, just because it's happened in the past doesn't mean it will happen again . . . " People like to hang out in the main rooms where the traffic is much greater. We never understood why separate boards have been thought variously to 1) increase traffic or 2) attract only people who wanted to talk about one thing and one thing only. Between the two main rooms you can talk about anything you want to. Maybe some day after more of these experiments, we'll understand it.

Your moderators expected as much, but every now and then we think "well, just because it's happened in the past doesn't mean it will happen again . . . " People like to hang out in the main rooms where the traffic is much greater. We never understood why separate boards have been thought variously to 1) increase traffic or 2) attract only people who wanted to talk about one thing and one thing only. Between the two main rooms you can talk about anything you want to. Maybe some day after more of these experiments, we'll understand it.

Well, I am glad you set up this forum. The 'lack of activity' doesn't necessarily mean it's fizzling ... it takes effort and time to put together a review, and I think we've had some good ones. Maybe it's so successful people are hunkered down with the books!

I thought more than half a dozen people may have enjoyed a science fiction novel or two in their life. Or horror. Or Shakespeare etc. Not much response, so why keep trying?

Maybe I'll try for an "out-there" interpretation of Hamlet (as an example of something I assume many people on this board would be familiar with) to get folk objecting (participation is participation at this point) to my POV.

And I may have viewed here 25 times or more myself. I am not abandoning all hope, but neither do I see much cause for optimism, which is kind of disappointing. One would think that a board such as this would have a wide variety of interesting reading and literary views - even if it's just enjoying throw-away novels like I often do.

Brendan wrote:And I may have viewed here 25 times or more myself. I am not abandoning all hope, but neither do I see much cause for optimism, which is kind of disappointing. One would think that a board such as this would have a wide variety of interesting reading and literary views - even if it's just enjoying throw-away novels like I often do.

I'd love to be proven overly pessimistic.

You ... you mean ... I can fess up to all those Harlequin romance novels?

Brendan wrote:And I may have viewed here 25 times or more myself. I am not abandoning all hope, but neither do I see much cause for optimism, which is kind of disappointing. One would think that a board such as this would have a wide variety of interesting reading and literary views - even if it's just enjoying throw-away novels like I often do.

I'd love to be proven overly pessimistic.

And to think, I was about to recommend we pull the plug on it . . .

Almost all the books I read are political in nature and if I want to discuss them with the board, I sure as hell ain't gonna post to this somnolent corner of the site. One of the reasons it was suggested was to separate a sort of book club-y atmosphere from the knock-down-drag-outs that happen in the Pub. I'm moderately okay with that, because of the reaction so many in the Pub have to having to listen to the opinions they don't agree with. It's unfortunate, IMO, but that's how folks are. So if this is going to be "the library" in essence, I won't be posting much here. That should come as a relief to some. I check in occasionally to make sure the pop cans and candy wrappers are in the trash and to make sure a discussion here hasn't resulted in a brawl, but that's about it.

John F wrote:Unless the section is taking up a lot of resources that are needed elsewhere, don't shut it down. It's serving a purpose.

No, it don't take up any resources, really, and unless people go hog wild and start posting large attachments, I don't see it doing so. If folks don't mind being in the back room, so to speak, we won't interfere. I was hoping it would get more traffic than it has. Colleen is right, it hasn't been open very long. For some reason I keep thinking we opened it up last spring. I had to check the date of this thread. This summer has been a blur.